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U.S. Reports One-Day High, Over 83,000 COVID-19 Infections; Experts: Masking Could Save 100K Lives By March 1; Coronavirus Reaches New Peaks Across Europe; Israel And Sudan Agree To Normalize Relations; No Clear Path To Reelection For Trump Without Florida. Aired 5-6a ET
Aired October 24, 2020 - 05:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): This is CNN breaking news.
KIM BRUNHUBER, CNN HOST (voice-over): Hello, I'm Kim Brunhuber in Atlanta with breaking news this hour.
For the first time since the pandemic began, more than 80,000 Americans were diagnosed with COVID-19 in a single day. Not only is that a record, it easily eclipses the worst days of July, when new cases topped 70,000 a day.
This upward trend has been building steadily since early September and the U.S. surgeon general warns that the country can expect new daily records in the coming days as the virus spreads unchecked from Maine to California.
Only 13 states, you can see them there on the map in yellow, are holding steady, compared to last week. And Nebraska, Arkansas and Mississippi are showing modest improvement.
Now this new surge is putting an enormous strain on America's health care system. At least eight states are reporting their highest hospitalizations to date. For the first time since mid-August, the number of people being treated for COVID has topped 40,000 nationwide.
Well, unless behavior changes quickly, forecasters say the U.S. death toll could reach 1 million by the end of February. And now the country's top infectious disease official says it may be time to make face masks mandatory.
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DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: If everyone agrees that this is something that is important and they mandate, it and everyone pulls together and say, we will mandate it but let's just do it, I think that would be a great idea, to have everyone do it uniformly.
One of the issues, though, I get the argument, saying, if you mandate a mask, then you will then have to enforce, it and that creates more of a problem. Well, if people are not wearing masks, then maybe we should be mandating it.
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BRUNHUBER: Two converging issues threaten to accelerate the spread the coronavirus. Indoor activities brought on by colder weather and the upcoming holidays, when friends and family traditionally get together. Dr. Fauci says people need to be more vigilant than ever.
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FAUCI: The reason I am particularly concerned, as we get deeper into the cooler months of the fall and the cold months of the winter, that activities, out of necessity, will have to be done indoors.
And that is going to be a problem. So that is the reason why, I say, we really need to double down on the kind of public health measures that we've been talking about so long.
Whenever I talk about amplify and just stressing the public health measures, people think that that means we're going to shut down. It doesn't mean that. It means there are some fundamental things you can do -- universal mask wearing, keeping a distance, avoiding congregate and crowded sessions -- sections, particularly indoors -- and wash your hands as often as you possibly can.
They sound very simple but we're not uniformly doing that. And so that is the reason why, as much as I can, essentially plead with the American public to please take these things seriously. We can turn it around.
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President Trump said people are tired of hearing about the pandemic. Obviously that is coronavirus fatigue but ignoring it isn't necessarily going to make it go away. We've got the latest from CNN's Nick Watt.
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NICK WATT, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): We are now in the fall surge, virus spread accelerating.
ALEX AZAR, U.S. HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES SECRETARY: We're in a very serious moment right now. We're seeing increases in cases. And what we're seeing is, through the Midwest, Upper Midwest and the Plains, a lot of cases occurring.
WATT: A dozen states are suffering all-time record high average daily case counts.
TRUMP: We're rounding the turn. We're rounding the corner. It's going away.
DR. JONATHAN REINER, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: The truth of the matter is that we're turning the corner into a tsunami.
WATT: Nationwide, the three worst days for new cases were all back in ugly, ugly July, coming in fourth, yesterday, 71,671 new infections.
And the number of COVID patients in our hospitals has soared by a third in just three weeks or so. AZAR: Then, we will see results from that.
WATT: Results means deaths, our average daily death toll already higher than it's been in a month. And another 160,000-plus Americans might die before the first day of February, according to influential modelers.
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WATT (voice-over): They say, if 95 percent of Americans wore masks, 100,000 lives could be saved through the last day of February.
AZAR: This is being driven by individual behaviors at this point.
WATT: Like going maskless, family gatherings, public gatherings, three cases now confirmed at this Los Angeles mega-church, which defies public health orders, meets inside.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We will obey God, rather than men.
WATT: Big Ten football kicks off tonight, very few fans. Still, "We are expecting some potential new obstacles as a result of the upcoming football season," says the mayor of East Lansing, home to Michigan State.
We are in the fall surge. We know what we need to do.
REINER: Mask up and we can turn this around.
WATT (voice-over): Nick Watt, CNN, Los Angeles.
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BRUNHUBER: To discuss the resurgence of coronavirus crisis we're seeing in the U.S. and Europe, let's talk to Dr. Clare Wenham, who teaches global health policy.
Thank you very much for being here with us. Here in the U.S., the number of people hospitalized with the coronavirus has risen by 40 percent. The president is trying to convince us that the country is rounding the corner, when that is clearly not the case.
From a public health perspective, how does that denial of reality have on a country and its residents to fight the virus?
DR. CLARE WENHAM, ASSISTANT PROFESSOR IN GLOBAL HEALTH POLICY, LONDON SCHOOL OF
ECONOMICS AND POLITICAL SCIENCE: I think it's concerning. If the president is putting out messages that people don't have to worry about it any more and that it's almost over, that's sending the wrong message.
In Europe, we're in a second peak. In the U.S., numbers are going up, as well, as you said, so we need people to take it seriously, wear your mask, socially distance, work at home where you can. All these things add up.
And the evidence around this is increasing every day. So to have a political leader saying you don't need to do these things, it's a dangerous precedent. The numbers will go up even further.
BRUNHUBER: We mentioned masks. Dr. Fauci says it may be time to call for a mask mandate.
Is there any evidence that mask mandates generally work?
WENHAM: So I think anything we can do to get people to wear more masks is a good thing. It hasn't been politicized as much in Europe as it has in the U.S.
Why not get people to listen and take this seriously?
We know wearing masks reduces the transmission.
Why wouldn't you do everything within your power to reduce transmission of this disease and stop people dying?
BRUNHUBER: Yes. As you said, much of this is political. The cases are rising here. And in the U.K. where you are. We're seeing field hospitals, national shutdowns, curfews, school closings.
How did we get here again?
WENHAM: That is a really good question. We always knew there were going to be second waves as we started to come out of lockdown. Lockdown isn't the silver bullet. Lockdown just places pauses on everybody. We knew we were going to see more.
But a lot of places didn't use that time, the last six months, to build up a trace and isolation system to allow us to go back to living normally.
In the ideal world, you're going to ask those people who have got the infection to stay at home and everyone else can go back to some semblance of normality. The problem is systems aren't in place, people are not listening and not following the guidance and not staying at home when they've been asked to.
So we're at a critical juncture to try and make sure we get the systems in place and make sure we get that risk communication right to people so they understand why they're staying at home and that they try to follow that guidance.
BRUNHUBER: And that is what the WHO has said. We're seeing some countries go back into lockdown. Wales, for instance. Are broader lockdowns inevitable?
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WENHAM: I don't think anyone wants to get back into a lockdown. However, I don't see in the U.K., for example, how we're going to do it any other way. And effectively, we're in the tier system here in the U.K.
But those levels of restrictions keep increasing every day. So I think eventually we will end up here in a more broader lockdown and elsewhere in Europe as well.
And I think it's sort of inevitable because people haven't got the systems in place and people aren't being compliant with the guidance they're being given. So I don't really see another way out.
BRUNHUBER: I'm sure that's not what many of our viewers want to hear. But thank you very much. Dr. Clare Wenham, thank you.
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BRUNHUBER: Positive developments for COVID-19 vaccine trials in the U.S. AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson paused their tests when volunteers became sick but the Food and Drug Administration greenlit AstraZeneca to resume its test after determining its vaccine candidate was safe.
Meanwhile, Johnson & Johnson said a study found no clear cause for its participant's illness. The company says preparations to restart are underway but couldn't say when the trial would resume.
U.S. federal officials want a vaccine to be available as soon as possible. Under their Operation Warp Speed, a top HHS official said, quote, they expect shots within arms within 24 hours after FDA approval. He warned states against trying to impose extra safety checks on what he called life-saving treatment treatments.
Both presidential candidates worked the campaign trail Friday. And they're both hitting at comments made by the other at the presidential debate. We'll hear from them coming up.
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BRUNHUBER: Well, there's little more than a week to go until the U.S. presidential election. But tens of millions of early voters have already cast their ballots. President Donald Trump plans to be one of them. The White House says he will vote in person Saturday in West Palm Beach, Florida.
At a campaign stop Friday, Mr. Trump mocked Democratic nominee Joe Biden, accusing him of sowing fear about the coronavirus pandemic.
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TRUMP: All he talks about is COVID, COVID, COVID, because they want to scare people. And we've done so well with it. Now it's 99.8 percent. I mean, you look at what's going on, and we're rounding the turn, we're rounding the corner, we're rounding the corner beautifully.
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BRUNHUBER: He also hammered Biden's comments about oil, which Biden says he wants to transition away from as America embraces renewable energy. But Trump is hoping that will hurt Biden in oil-producing states such as Texas.
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TRUMP: One of the most stunning moments last night is when Joe Biden admitted that he wants to abolish the oil industry.
Did you see him this morning?
This morning -- I didn't really mean that. I didn't mean that. That was the last question that talked about that. I said, whoa, this is the big point of the evening, remember?
I said, well, you want to get rid of oil and, yes, is that -- yes, well, we want to phase it out. I said, thank you.
Texas, are you watching?
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BRUNHUBER: Democrat Joe Biden, meanwhile, campaigned in Delaware. The coronavirus pandemic was front and center in his remarks. He had plenty of criticism for some of the president's debate comments. M.J. Lee has that plus plans for the coming days.
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M.J. LEE, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: At this point in the 2020 election, at every Joe Biden speech and campaign event, he is talking about COVID-19 and the pandemic. And it is very clear at this point that he plans on making this a central part of his closing message as we get closer and closer to Election Day.
Earlier in the week, at the final presidential debate, we saw the very starkly different visions between President Trump and Joe Biden when it comes to the pandemic. Trump almost painting a rosy picture of what is happening across the U.S.; whereas, Joe Biden warned about a dark winter that is coming.
Yesterday in Wilmington, Delaware, Joe Biden kind of pulled all of the different threads together and gave one comprehensive speech about the virus; first, laying out his own plan for what he would do to combat the virus, talking about enforcing mask wearing, the distribution of PPE and vaccines and pointing out the failures he sees from President Trump in handling the pandemic, even saying that the president has quit on the American people.
And one important running theme that we saw was Biden basically asking American voters to imagine a better future as it pertains to the pandemic. Take a listen to this.
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BIDEN: We don't have to be held prisoner by this administration's failure. We can choose a different path. Imagine a day in the not too distant future, when you can enjoy dinner with your friends and your family and maybe even go out to a movie, when you can celebrate your birthday, weddings, graduations, surrounded by your nearest and dearest friends.
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LEE: Now the Biden campaign has said that, in these final days, we should expect to see a very robust campaign schedule for the former vice president. Today, he is going to be campaigning in the state of Pennsylvania, including in the Philadelphia suburbs.
This, of course, is a state that President Trump very narrowly won back in 2016. But a recent CNN poll showed that Biden has a 10-point lead over the president in this critical state -- M.J. Lee, CNN, Wilmington, Delaware.
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BRUNHUBER: So to talk about all this, we're joined now by Leslie Vinjamuri in London. She's the director of the U.S. and the Americas Programme at Chatham House.
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BRUNHUBER: Thank you so much for coming on. Let's start with the two candidates and COVID. The president's confident sunny times are just around the corner, despite evidence to the contrary. And Joe Biden warning us of a dark winter.
We're sick of COVID-19. The last thing we want to hear is that things are going to get worse and we might have to go back into lockdown.
Will the president's message resonate in the election's waning days?
LESLIE VINJAMURI, HEAD OF THE U.S. & THE AMERICAS PROGRAMME, CHATHAM HOUSE: I think for some voters it will. What we know is very few voters in the United States already know who they intend to vote for. Those people who are solidly in Trump's camp absolutely want to hear a good message.
But I think as you look at the numbers, as Americans have now been living with this for eight months, what they want to know is that things are going to get better because there's a plan for making them better: because there's a vaccine on the way, because social distancing is working, because they can see the numbers coming down.
And that's not what is happening right now. There's a surge in about 38 states. The numbers are devastatingly high, the death toil is extraordinary and tragic and people are very well aware of this.
So they want to see a plan, the majority of Americans. And hearing that things are good without that second message as to why they are going to be good and what we can expect and how we're going to get there, that's the message that we're seeing from Vice President Biden.
And if we believe the national polling, it's a message that's clearly working. He's many points ahead in the national polls.
Of course, we know this election is going to be won in the battleground states. And so that is a harder thing to call. But right now, it looks like the American people are much more inside the Biden message than they are in President Trump's message.
BRUNHUBER: You mentioned that most Americans know for whom they're going to vote. But maybe one of the last chances to change that was the debate, which at least matched the definition of the noun, unlike the first one.
What was your take away?
And will it make any difference, do you think, as we round the corner to the end of the campaign?
VINJAMURI: I don't think it will make a lot of difference. I found the debate somewhat disappointing. It was certainly better than the first debate, where President Trump spoke over the moderator, argued with the moderator, spoke over the vice president.
Really very little could be heard by the audience and it was, frankly, a national embarrassment and I think the vice president felt that way. So you could see that President Trump had been coached, that he was thinking much more clearly about when to intervene.
There were the new rules so it was marginally more civilized. But it started with the pandemic and it moved quickly on. There was so much light between the two and there is really very little to be won for the president.
The economic conversation was interesting. The president is saying the vice president is a socialist; going to bring the American economy down. And the vice president says I'm worried about Main Street, not Wall Street. We need that fiscal stimulus, that government support so that schools and small businesses can stay open but they can do so in a way that's safe.
So there were a number of very big divides. I think the question of those 500 -- more than 500 children hit the papers this week. The 500 children who we can't find their parents, it sort of brought back the question of immigration, which has to be tackled by the next administration.
BRUNHUBER: All right. We'll be following along. Leslie Vinjamuri, thank you so much. We appreciate it.
VINJAMURI: Thank you so much.
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BRUNHUBER: Iran is slamming a U.S. brokered deal that could lead to normalized relations between Israel and Sudan. The Iranian foreign minister called the agreement "phony" and suggested Sudan paid a ransom to be taken off the U.S. list of countries that sponsor terrorism.
The agreement establishes trade ties between Israel and Sudan that stopped short of full diplomatic relations. U.S. president Trump says even more countries will follow.
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TRUMP: We have many countries wanting to come in. We're doing them one by one. We did Sudan. They wanted to do a deal that was, in particular, nice because they were essentially at war with Iran. I don't know if it was fighting or for many years they've been officially at war with Sudan.
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TRUMP: Not only was the deal signed but it's peace. That's official. That's nice. We have at least five that want to come in. And we'll have more than that very soon.
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BRUNHUBER: Sudan's acting foreign minister cautioned that the deal can't move forward until the country's legislative -- body council votes on it. Now we're going to go to Oren Liebermann who's in Jerusalem for us.
Oren, big win for Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu.
Before we get to the political angle, if approved, what would this mean for the Sudanese?
OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: For Sudan, it means they get desperately needed financial help and humanitarian help. Remember they're in dire financial straits. Part of the agreement was to get help them out of that, to get them off the U.S. state sponsor of terror listing and make sure they have access to financial institutions that can help them.
That's why it's so important to Sudan's leaders. That's why the U.S. had leverage to push them towards normalization, in exchange for what the country needed to try to hold them together with its fragile transitional government. As you pointed out, for President Trump and Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu, this is a political win. For Trump, a week before an election. And for Netanyahu, who faces falling popularity over his handling of the coronavirus, he was sure to hype this up in his statement.
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BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, PRIME MINISTER OF ISRAEL (through translator): Whereas today, Khartoum says yes, yes to peace with Israel. Yes to recognition of Israel. Yes to normalization with Israel.
This is a new era. The era of true peace. This is a peace that is expanding, to include other Arab countries. 3 of which, having made peace with, us in recent weeks. Sudanese and Israeli delegations will meet soon, to discuss cooperation, in many fields, including agriculture, trade and other important areas for our citizens.
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LIEBERMANN: Unlike the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, Israel and Sudan have had a state of war in the past, back in 1948 and 1967 wars. That looks like it will be soon done away with, as this moves forward in a process that both the White House and the Israelis have pushed for quite a bit of time. The Palestinians say this is a serious stab in the back as once again, Kim, they are on the outside looking in at a changing Middle East.
BRUNHUBER: Absolutely. Thank you so much. CNN's Oren Liebermann in Jerusalem.
Just ahead on CNN NEWSROOM, we'll go to Europe to see how governments across the continent are stepping up restrictions as coronavirus cases soar. Stay with us.
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BRUNHUBER: And welcome back to you our viewers in the United States and around the world.
The U.S. confirmed a record 83,000 cases of COVID-19 on Friday. The biggest one-day spike ever. Health experts have been warning for weeks a rise in new cases would accompany the arrival of colder weather. But Friday's shocking figure is far higher than the daily peak set back in July.
The U.S. surgeon general predicts the coming week could be the worst yet for the country, especially worrisome is the increasing number of patients needing hospitalization, the highest it's been since mid- August. Tens of millions of Europeans are facing tougher coronavirus
restrictions this weekend. They come as new cases soar across the continent and countries scramble to find ways to bring the surge under control, especially in the Czech Republic, where daily COVID cases have surpassed 15,000 for the first time.
And those new measures aren't going over so well in parts of Italy. Scuffles broke out in Naples over new measures imposed to help stem the virus' spread. Police used tear gas after hundreds gathered to protest a nighttime curfew. Cases across Italy have risen sevenfold since the beginning of October. They soared on Friday.
The Italian government reported more than 19,000 new infections. CNN has reporters across Europe covering the coronavirus surge. CNN's Nina dos Santos in Wales. Salma Abdelaziz is in Manchester, England and Scott McLean is in Berlin.
Scott, the big picture, more cases, more restrictions. Take us through the situation as COVID is becoming more dire there.
SCOTT MCLEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Kim. Well, I think it's safe to say that the global epicenter of the resurgence of the coronavirus is in Europe right now.
You can see the number of cases per capita in Europe has really shot up, surpassing the United States. And the trajectory really shows no signs of slowing down, at least at this stage.
I want to show you one other one. The top five infection rates on Earth, all of them are in Europe, the Czech Republic, Belgium, Netherlands, Switzerland and France. If you compare them to the U.S. on the bottom of the graph in red, you can see they're not even close.
Things are especially bad in the Czech Republic. The infection rate is five times higher than the U.S.; their death toll is eight times higher than their peak of the first wave of the epidemic.
And on top of all of that, the health care system in the Czech Republic is on the brink of collapse. They're also dealing with a political crisis. The health minister in that country was accused of breaking his own coronavirus rules.
He's refusing to step down, though. The prime minister is vowing to replace him anyway. If that happens, Kim, that would mean that the Czech Republic would have a third health minister installed in just the last six weeks, all at the height of the worst outbreak on planet Earth.
You can understand why in nearby Slovakia, they're watching the Czech situation with horror as their own cases begin to rise. They're try about to try to test their entire population to try to tamp down their situation, over 5 million people over the next three weekends.
And in nearby Poland we've just gotten confirmation that the 48-year- old president has tested positive for COVID. He took a test yesterday; results came back today. He says he's feeling good. He's not the only high-profile politician in Europe to test positive.
The Belgian deputy prime minister, the Czech deputy prime minister and the German health minister have all tested positive within the past week. Kim.
BRUNHUBER: A worrisome situation across the continent there, Scott McLean in Berlin.
Let's go to Nina dos Santos in Cardiff, Wales.
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BRUNHUBER: Explain how people are coping with the idea of another lockdown.
NINA DOS SANTOS, CNNMONEY EUROPE EDITOR: Well, first before I get into that, Kim, take a look at the street behind me. I want to point out this is what a national lockdown in one of the devolved nations of the U.K. have a right to set their health care policy and they can effectively shut streets like this and major retail outlets on a Saturday morning in the streets of Cardiff.
For the next 16 days to come, we've got 3 million people in the U.K. who live in this part of the British Isles, Wales, they can't go out. They can only go out for essentials like pharmacy and food items. This is why on a street like this, we do have shops open but they have to sell only those items.
And other items are cordoned off. It's a very stark picture of some of the most stringent restrictions anywhere in the country. It also speaks to the difference in strategy that the Wales government is taking here.
What they're doing now is imposing what they call a national lockdown for the whole of Wales, despite the fact that there are hot spots in some parts of Wales that haven't yet transferred to other small villages in other parts of the country.
Nevertheless, here on the streets of Cardiff yesterday evening, just before things shut down, there was real support for measures taking place here.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's about time that somebody took this bull by the horns and got on with it and locked us down for 16 days.
DOS SANTOS: Do you think it's better than what's being done in other parts of the United Kingdom?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hard to say, hard to say. Other parts of the United Kingdom have had three or four tiers. I think the whole country needs to go into lockdown.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think as a student, it's necessary. There's a lot of activities that came back. And that's just should keep us out for two weeks, I think.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DOS SANTOS: Well, Kim, it is quite a confusing picture across the British Isles. Remember there are parts of this country, like Scotland and Wales like I said, that have their own assemblies and latitude to set rules on education and health care.
This is a prime time to do a lockdown like this because it is during a holiday fall break for students and also for people who are going to schools.
But everybody around the country, Wales, Scotland, England, wants to avoid shutting down schools. They're just shutting down the economy for two weeks. They won't know for a month whether or not it worked, Kim.
BRUNHUBER: Those empty streets you showed us is just a dramatic illustration of what many countries might be facing down the road. CNN's Nina dos Santos joining us from Cardiff, Wales.
Let's go to Salma Abdelaziz in Manchester.
Businesses, they're feeling the pinch. I know you talked to some Manchester businesses, local leaders there fighting the resistance of the restrictions.
How are they coping now that they've essentially lost that battle that they were waging?
SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN PRODUCER: That's right, Kim. There was essentially an outright uprising against prime minister Boris Johnson from the local government here. For 10 days, they were in a standoff over the tier three restrictions, the highest level under the regional lockdown system that shuts down pubs, bars and essentially bans all households from mixing together.
The mayor said it's one of risk versus reward, that these measures are too limited. They're sort of half measures that will not actually bring enough case numbers down to justify them.
I actually interviewed him yesterday, the first day the restrictions went into effect. Take a listen to what he said.
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MAYOR ANDY BURNHAM, MANCHESTER, ENGLAND: We as a city region always stood up for people, for fairness. And we've often challenged the London establishment if you like, in sort of the ways it treats the north England. This argument became a fight about that.
In my view, if you're going to lock down someone's life or lock down somebody's job, it can't be done on terms dictated from 200 miles away. And actually, you know, on a week like this, though it's been tough, I look back and say, I'm doing what I said I would do. And you get a sense of fulfillment from doing that. My message to Westminster is I'll do it every single time again if you
come back and try to treat us in this way.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ABDELAZIZ: Now his act of resistance did ultimately fail. He was not able to reach the deal he wanted. And the prime minister unilaterally set restrictions on the city. But the mayor, Andy Burnham, set a precedent. He said he was happy to do so.
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ABDELAZIZ: He wants to place on the government the burden of understanding how these measures hurt businesses. He said make them effective, make them quick, make them sharp and make sure you get a grip on the virus as soon as possible. Kim.
BRUNHUBER: Interesting. Thanks for your reporting there, CNN's Salma Abdelaziz in Manchester.
Let's go to Mexico now, where seasonal festivities draw hundreds of thousands of people. Officials say there are fresh coronavirus outbreaks and a rise in hospitalizations. CNN's Matt Rivers reports from Mexico City.
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MATT RIVERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Here in Mexico, we are now approaching 900,000 confirmed cases of the virus. We're also approaching 90,000 confirmed deaths.
Top health officials in the country are concerned about the number of new cases being seen across the country. If you look at the 7 day moving average of newly confirmed cases, you see the number has gone up over several days. Health officials are pointing to several different states where they say the number of cases are on the rise.
Health officials specifically pointing out the state of Chihuahua. It borders the state of Texas, Texas' western side. It's a border state between the U.S. and Mexico.
Officials in Chihuahua are concerned about the number of cases they have been seeing as a result of what officials say are not following the correct guidelines in public transportation. Also what they say are family gatherings leading to a rise.
There is more modeling, more data, that shows things will get worse in Mexico. New data from a model from the University of Washington suggests the overall death toll in Mexico by February 1st could be nearly 130,000 deaths.
Mexico already has one of the highest death tolls from the virus of any country around the world. Over the next several weeks, this is what we're watching.
Where do the number of new cases go? Do they continue to rise?
How do health officials respond?
Mexico has been hesitant to put in strict quarantine measures. Different states have done different levels of quarantining.
But if the number of cases rises in Mexico, the question is do the measures increase?
That is something the government has been hesitant to do because of the economic impact that is so devastating to so many in the country -- Matt Rivers, CNN, Mexico City.
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BRUNHUBER: Countries in South America are also struggling with the virus. Colombia is fast approaching 1 million cases and 30,000 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University. The country's vice president, Marta Lucia Ramirez actually says she has tested positive for COVID- 19. She's under quarantine and is urging people to follow the safety measures in place to stop the spread.
Well, millions of voters have already been cast ahead of the U.S. presidential election. After the break, we will look at possible pathways to victory for the candidates. Stay with us.
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BRUNHUBER: Well, there's just over a week to go before Election Day in the U.S. and although Democrat Joe Biden is leading president Donald Trump in the opinion polls, of course, what really matters are specifically the 270 electoral college votes they need to secure the presidency. Congressional correspondent Phil Mattingly takes a look at the possibilities.
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PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN U.S. CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The 2020 presidential debates are in the rear view, which means it's crunch time for both campaigns.
I think the big question now for both of those campaigns is, what is the strategy to close things out in these final days?
The campaigns themselves, you need to look at the signals, their money and their time. But first, let's take a look at where things stand at this moment.
You will see Joe Biden above the 270 electoral votes he would need to win the presidency. Lighter blue, those are leans. The leans don't necessarily mean they are going to go Biden's way on Election Day. But right now, that's where things stand.
So take a look. Where you see the gold, those are the tossups. And this time around, everything in gold was a state that president Donald Trump won back in 2016.
So let's first pull up where the candidates and some of their top surrogates are going over the course of this past week and this weekend. And you get a sense of what the campaigns are really focused on.
Joe Biden, obviously in Tennessee for the debate. Pennsylvania, keep Pennsylvania in mind. Bernie Sanders, now a top surrogate, once a competitor for Joe Biden, heading to Pennsylvania this weekend, as well. President Barack Obama heading to Pennsylvania earlier in the week and then Florida over the course of the weekend.
You get a sense from that, Pennsylvania and Florida. I'll come back to that. But first, take a look at the enormous travel schedule of the president and the vice president. Obviously very active. Taking a different method of campaigning than the Biden campaign in the middle of the pandemic.
They are going a lot of different places which underscores two things. One, they are defending the many states. Keep an eye on all of these states and focus on Pennsylvania, focus on Florida.
Where else do you want to look at here?
Look at what they're spending. Obviously, the spending matters a lot. And what comes up top here, first, Joe Biden with a significant advantage on the campaign level. Both campaigns spending big in the state of Florida. Both campaigns spending big in the state of North Dakota and North Carolina.
That should give you a sense of the three or four key states that you're looking at over the course of the next couple of days, really the next 10, 11, 9.
What does it all mean?
I talked about Florida and Pennsylvania. Say you give the Trump campaign every single gold tossup here, except for the state of Florida. Joe Biden is still over 270 electoral votes. President Trump still below.
What if you give Joe Biden the state of Florida?
Obviously, he goes even higher there but President Trump breaks the blue wall in the Midwest just like he did back in 2016.
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MATTINGLY: Let's show how different things are for President Trump to win if Joe Biden wins Florida. It really underscores the point here. Say he takes Pennsylvania again. Joe Biden, still well over 270. Say he takes Michigan again, Joe Biden, still over 270.
The reality for the Trump campaign is, without Florida, President Trump is almost certain not to be re-elected.
And also, why do you go, if you're the Biden campaign, to Pennsylvania?
We talked about how important the Midwest is, how important it was for Trump's re-election back in 2016. Let's say he wins all the tossup states, Joe Biden at 290. That creates significant problems for President Trump.
He would have to win Wisconsin, Minnesota, difficult, difficult problem sessions if you're not winning Pennsylvania where he ran stronger in 2016.
There are pathways for President Trump; there are probably more pathways for Joe Biden. But, again, look at where they're spending, look at where they're going. And as I noted earlier, keep an eye on North Carolina as well. A lot of things could happen. This is the map and it could change. Back to you.
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BRUNHUBER: Very interesting, CNN NEWSROOM will be right back. Please do stay with us.
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BRUNHUBER: Many airlines have implemented COVID safety precautions since the pandemic started, including masks required. Now some are getting tougher, banning hundreds of passengers who refused to put one on. CNN's Pete Muntean has more.
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PETE MUNTEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Delta Airlines now says 460 people are now no longer welcome on its flights for refusing to wear a mask. That according to a new memo from Delta CEO to employees.
The last time we got an update on this was when Delta said it banned 270 people. This averages out to about two people per day being banned from Delta flights since May 4th. Other airlines have similar requirements.
But this is coming at a time when the CDC is saying masks must be worn by travelers on every part of the trip. New studies show the risk of contracting coronavirus on an airplane is actually pretty low.
But the CDC says the risk is higher in indoor places like terminals, where people can get bunched up. Airlines do not have any help from the federal government. The FAA and the Department of Transportation have instituted no new requirements for masks on board airplanes. Pete Muntean, CNN, Washington.
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BRUNHUBER: That wraps up this hour of CNN NEWSROOM. For American and Canadian viewers, "NEW DAY" is just ahead. For everyone else it is "Spirit of India."
